Conveyer belt unloader



Jan. 29, 1935. w. w. WENTZ ET AL 1,989,502

CONVEYER BELT UNLOADER Original Filed Oct. 7, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 1fl/berf I, l/ y/ ATTORNEY Jan. 29, 1935.

FIG. 2

w. w. WENTZ ET AL 1,989,502

CONVEYER BELT UNLOADER Original Filed Oct. 7, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan.29, 1935. w w w -rz i- AL 1,989,502

CONVEYER BELT UNLOADER Original Filed Oct/7, 1950 3 Sheets $heet 5ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 29, 1935 a 1,989,502

CONVEYER BELT UNLOADER Willard W. Wentz, Passaic, and Albert D.Heyl,

Clifton, N. J., assignors to Portable Machinery Company, a corporationof New Jersey Application October 7, 1930, Serial No. 486,939

Renewed June 27, 1934 2 Claims. (01. 198-53) Our invention relates toportable conveyers and being duly considered, in passing from thehorimore particularly to that'type of conveyer known zontal portion ontothe desired incline. Any as unloaders for use, for example, whenunloadtendency of the belt to lift off its trackway will ing railwaycars equipped with drops or chutes be counteracted by the guideswhichwill main- 5 beneath the car through which the material in tain thebelt on its trackway and thus not sub- 5 the car is. discharged.Theunloader is placed ject it to conditions, stresses and strains thatbeneath the drop to receive the material therewould interfere with itsfunctioning. from and convey it beyond the side of the rail- By theuseof such guides, it is possible to turn way car where it is usuallyreceived upon another the belt from the horizontal on an arc of very l0conveyer that elevates the material into trucks much shorter radius thanhas heretofore been or bins or onto dump piles. known in conveyerpractice. For example, in one It is importantin such unloaders that theform of conveyer we have built, with flights portion which extendsbeneath the railway-car spaced apart on five inch centers, a turn has bevery thin, compatible with rigidity of conbeen made from the horizontalonto a 22 in-- struction, so that the unloader may be used with clineabout an are having a 30% inch radius. 15 the various types of cars thatdump ordischarge In the design shown in the'drawings, the-guides in thismanner, the dropsinsaid cars being spaced are above the belt. It isimportant that no exvarying distances from the railway tracks. v Thiscessive pressure is created on the, guides such portion of the conveyerrests upon the tracks. as would increase the frictionalload of the con-It is likewise important that the discharge end veyer. We have foundthat by the use of too 20.

of such unloaders be elevated a substantial dissmall a radius, the powerrequirement for moving tance above the ground so that the receiving endthe belt is doubled. However, it is not practical of a second conveyermay be inserted under the to mathematically define thelimits for theradii discharge end of the unloader without having to because theformulae vary-depending upon such dig a pit in the ground for thatpurpose. matters as the spacing of the flights, the angle 25 Unloadersof this general character have hereof the inclined portion, and anumberof factor tofore been devised, but they have been of the of thatcharacter. drag type-that is where the material is dragged Another bjectof ourinvention is toprovide along a receiving plate and up an inclinedplate an adjustment whereby, the, unloader may be by bars suspendedbetween two chains. No one raised and lowered into proper; operativeposi- 30 has heretofore devised such an unloader wherein tion. v j aflexible belt provided with useful flights is used Sincethe groundadjacent a railway track is to convey the material along the unloader.Howlikely to be rough and uneven, we have found it ever, it is a knownfact that this belt type of desirable to provide individual adjustmentsfor conveyer is usable more universally, that is on each side or wheelof the unloader whereby aflrm 35 a greater variety of materials andgreater variety mounting for the unloader will be assured under of sizesof materials, as well as being more eflivarying ground conditions. cientboth in volume handled and in time of han- Other and. further objects ofour invention, dling. such as the ready portability of the unloader due40 The difliculty that has been encountered in the to its balancedconstruction, and-the simplicity 0 use of conveyer belts in unloadershas been the of the drive which is protected from damage, will inabilityto maintain a proper are for the belt be apparent from the followingdescription taken as it passes from the horizontal portion of the inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, unloader ontothe inclinedportion. The limitwhereining factor is the relatively short distance inthe Figure 1 is a perspective view of our improved 45 length oftheunloader and the fact that it is unloader; I essential that the conveyerbelt does not lift from Fig. 2 is a side elevation of our improved untheidler pulleys upon which it may be running loader shown in operativeposition, parts being or, as in this case, from the trackway upon whichbroken away to facilitate illustration;v

it is moving. The latter condition would' not Fig. 3 isa cross sectionon the line 3-3 of Fig. l; 50 be practical in conveyer practice forseveral rea- Fig. 4 is a detail of the discharge end of the unsons wellknown to those skilled in the art. loader, while We overcome thesedifficulties by providing Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged details of theheight guides for the belt, which guides take the form adjustingmechanism. I j of a permissible arc, theabovelimiting factors Referringto the drawings, the unloader com- 55 bers 14 with one portion 1''!thereof projectinginwardly toward each other. .;.Where the horizontalportion 11 and the inclined portion; 12 join the angle iron members 16are bent on a-proper curve, indicated at 18, to be hereinafter morefully explained, so that the members ldcont'inue up the inclined portion12 of the conveyer to a point adjacent the driving roller 19. A drivenrollerZ-L located at the opposite end of the conveyer, and

the members 16 extend to a point adjacent the driven roller also. Aflexible endless 'conveyer belt 22 encircles the ro11ers 19 and 21 andextends therebetween; forming the conveying element of the unloader. Theupper reach 'or lap of the belt is supported upon the horizontal portion17 of members 16 while the lower reach or'lap is supported on'theinwardly'projecting portions 14b of theside frames. The'belt ispreferably of fabric.

As will be noted from Figs. 2 and 3, these parts are arrangedclosetoge'ther in the horizontal portion 1 1 of the unloader so as tomake this portion of the unloader as thin" as possible commensurate withrugged construction."

The belt- 2 2 has mounted thereon a plurality of flights 23". Theflights 23 may take any form desired and as here shown comprise flatmetal bars secured to the belt 22'} by means of rivets 24. Thefi-lghts-eXtendthe full width of the belt 22. In the'drawings they areshown" as substantially the full' width for convenience of illustration.Itbe noted thatrivets24 are provided with en larged *-fl'at*heads 25which-are located on the under surface of the belt. The rivets are soarranged that one rivet on each'side of the flight Wili b'e-in'pesitionto ride" along each trackway 17. Thus, a line of rivet heads 25 areprovided on each side on which the belt rides inits passage through themachine, threbysavingwar on thebelt and-'prolonginglitslife, andreducing the frictional load on the driving motor.

he flights 23 are spaced apart'on the belt a distance not in excess of10 inches; forthe purposes explained" more fully in thecopendingapplication of Jere L. Wentz, 'Ser. No. 451,608, filed May 12,1930,namely, to preventtne sagging of the belt between the rigid flights aswell as between the side edges of the belt, even though no intermediateor idler rollers are provided over which the belt passes. In otherwords, this is a fabric belt provided with rigid fiightsthat give thebeltsufficient body that it will'not sag in or din'ary use between theedges of the belt.

If desired, a central trackway 26 may be pro' vided beneath the-belt 22and in position to be engaged by a row of rivet heads 25 as explainedfor trackway 17. The central trackway 26, if used, could bese'cured tothe spacer bars 15, as shown.

The discharge end i the unloader having the upwardly inclined beltportion comprises a pair of side plates 31 and 32 secured to the framemembers 14a. and in turn carrying frame member 33 projecting thereabove.Afplatform 34 is supported upon the top of the frame members 33, themotive power for driving the belt conveyer, indicated generally at 35,being mounted on the platform. The motive power may either be anelectric motor, gasoline engine, or the like. The drive for the belt isindicated diagrammatically in dash. lines in Fig. 2 as extending frompulley 36, carried. on the shaft of the motor 35, through belt or chain;37 to'pulley 38 carried upon shaft 394 As will beseen from Fig. 1; shaft39 extends across the space between the side plates 31 and 32, and onthe opposite end from pulley 38 carries pulley 41 which cooperates witha chain or belt 42 to rotate pulley 43- carried upon shaft 44. It willbe noted from Fig. 2 that shaft 44 likewise extends between the'sideplates-31 and 32 and is located between the upper and: lower reaches ofthe belt, as does the remainder of the drive about to be de scribed andshowninore in detail in Fig. 4. The shaft 44 carries a second pulley 45near its oppositeend, which through the medium of a belt or chain 46rotates a pulley 47 carried upon the shaft 48' upon which the drivingroller 19 is: mounted. Referring to- Fig. 1,;it will be seen that thedrive from the motor to the shaft 39 is covered by a sheath 51 andthedrive from the shaft 39120 the shaft 44 is covered bythe sheath 52since both 01"" these drives' are located outside of the plates 32 and3-1 respectively. The drive on 'the shafts: 44 and 48' extends beneaththe upper reach of the belt 22 on the inclined portion and-henceit isadequately protected fromdirt'a-nd' damage due to knocking, etc.

As has been pointed out heretofore, it has not been found practical tomake unloaders of this type having a flat receiving portion and an up-'wa-rdly inclined discharge portion for the reason. that too long aradius was required about the bent forming the point of intersection soas to maintain the arc of the bend such that the belt would not liftfrom the i dl'ersor the trackway upon which it is operating in reachingthe roller 19 at theupper ordischarge end. In our conveyer we provideways and means for overcoming this condition without increase in thedriving power required and thereby make possible the use of beltconveyers inthistype of unloader.

Itis for that purpose we provide a guide or guard" [54 about the belt 22at each side of the unloader and respectively secured to the side plates31 and 325 Each guard 54 has ahorizontal portion 55 extending parallelto the horizontal portion 11 of the belt and a curved portion 53 that islocated concentrically with the are 18 between the horizontal section 11and the in clined section 12 of the belt conveyor, but spaced therefrom.Each guide 54 is formed of an angle iron section, one end of which isbent into the particular shaped are 53 desired for the particularconstruction of "conveyer. The top of the flights engage the bottom ofthe guide 54, especially at the are 53 and thus forms a wear-receivingmeans for protecting the upper surface of the belt against wear from theguides. However, the spacing between the guides 54 and trackways 17 atthe arcs'53 and 18 is such that the belt is forced down upon thetraokway.

As explained above, a number of factors enter into the determination ofthe minimum radius for the are of the trackways 17, formed by the angleirons 16; on which the belt conveyer 22 runs, so that it is notpractical to more specifical- 1y define the arc mathematically than hasheretofore been done. When the variable factors have been determined,the arc 18 is plotted so that the radius to the top surface of thetrackway is' fixed. All other measurements dependent upon .the are aretaken from that surface. From the foregoing description it willbe'visualized that the beltis supported beneath and is guided above byrigid members formed to the are it is desired for the particular purposefor which the conveyer or'unloader may be designed, and in this instancethe conveyerruns from the horizontal portion onto a 22 incline about anintersecting archaving a 30% inch radius, the overall length of theunloader being but 17 feet. Thus, we are enabled to produce a beltconveyer unloader withinthelength commercially permissiblefor use inrailway car unloaders, and that will allow the end of a portableconveyer to be inserted beneath the unloader dischargelend and on thesame ground levelas the unloader. Y Theunloader isintended to be readilyportable from place to place by "one man, andfor that purposeapair oftraction wheels 56 are mounted approximately at thepoint of intersectionbetween the horizontal and inclined portions of the conveyer. The powerplant is mounted above the inclined section 12 and in position tobalance the horizontal portion 11 of the unloader which is about twicethe length of the inclined portion 12.

The axles 57 of the wheels 56 are mounted so as to be adjustablevertically in order that the discharge end of the unloader might beproperly and firmly supported upon the ground in accommodation to thevarying height of railway track upon which it may be desired to use theunloader. The wheels are adjustable independently of each other in orderto permit of accommodation of the support to any unevenness in theground upon which the traction wheels 56 must rest when the unloader isin operative position.

For this purpose the axles 57 are each mounted in a block 58, each ofwhich is threaded to receive a screw threaded rod 59 journaled in theframe 14 as indicated at 61 and respectively rotatably supported on theside plates 31 and 33 by means of bracket 62. Each block 58 slidesvertically in guides 63 and 64 which are mounted upon the side plates 31and 32. The ends of the rods 59 projecting above the brackets 62 aresquared to accommodate a wrench or handle 65 by means of which the screwthreaded rod 59 is turned to adjust the vertical position of the block58 and correspondingly vertically adjust the position of its associatedtraction wheel 56. In both Figs. 2 and 4 there is indicated the maximumupper and lower positions for the traction wheels.

In operation, in unloading a railway car, the horizontal portion 11 ofthe unloader is inserted beneath the railway car, indicateddiagrammatically at 71 in Fig. 2, and positioned beneath the inclineddrop or chute 72 of the railway car through which the contents of thecar are discharged, in a manner well known to those skilled in the art.In this position the end 20 of the unloader projects beyond the openingof the drop 72 and may project beyond the side of the car. Thehorizontal portion 11 of the unloader is caused to rest upon the railwaytrack rail 73, by raising or lowering the traction wheels 56 as the casemay require to insure the unloader resting upon both rails and also toinsure the firm support of the traction wheels upon the ground alongsidethe trackway with the discharge end 12 of the unloader suificiently highto permit the insertion of the nose of another conveyer beneath the end12 so that material discharged from the unloader will fall upon aconveyer that will transport it away from the railway track andeitherjdischarge itxonto adump or into vehicles asmay be desiredr c V In'unloaders of this description, it is important that the unloader be soarranged that the same cannot become choked upor overloaded andthusfunction improperly. It is; also of importance that the driven roller 21is protected from. the material being discharged from the railway car.For. this latter purpose we provide a guard sheath 74 about the end 20.of the unloader beneath which the rolly21 is located. The sheathisinclined downwardly from the outer end of the unloader toward theconveyer belt, so as to tend to cause any material that might reach theupper side of the sheath 74 to slide therealong and onto the conveyer,belt.

We also arrange above the'conveyer belta pair of guards 75 which overliethe conveyer belt and extend from beneath the'sheath 74 to a .pointadjacent'the intersection with the upwardly inclined discharge portionof the unloader so that at the sheath 74 only approximately one-third ofthe conveyer belt is exposed while at the point of intersection with theupwardly inclined discharge portion substantially the whole conveyerbelt is exposed. The purpose of this arrangement is that at the end 20the belt has a relatively small capacity for handling material, while asthe discharge end of the unloader is approached the belt has an everincreasing capacity for handling the material, and thus it is notpossible to overload the conveyer belt or to cause any choking up ofmaterial at the intersection between the horizontal and inclinedportions of the unloader.

As will be seen from Fig. 3, the guard boards 75 are secured upon theframe members 14 by means of angle iron brackets 76 to which the boards75 are bolted.

Beneath the inclined belt portion 12 is located a closure plate '77which is secured to the side plates 31 and 32 and extends from the frame14 upwardly to a point adjacent the driving roller 19. Here the plate issecured to cross bar 78 that is an angle iron section secured to theside plates 31 and 32 and having one part thereof extending upwardly toa point adjacent roller 19 leaving approximately only enough clearancefor the passage of the flights 23 on the return path to the roller 21.The plate '77 serves a particularly useful purpose if material shouldpile upon or about the conveyer receiving end in that none of suchmaterial could be dragged underneath the unloader by the invertedflights 23 on the return reach of the belt. The rigid bar 78 facilitatesthis general purpose.

In the following claims where reference is made to a belt or a conveyerbelt, the term is to be understood as having the same meaning as thisterm has in the art, namely, a belt of some suitable material, fabric orotherwise, upon which the material rests and is carried during the timeof its transportation upon the conveyer 0r unloader. In most cases thisbelt extends the full distance between the side frame of the conveyer orunloader.

Modifications may be made in the arrangement and location of partswithin the spirit and scope of our invention, and such modifications areintended to be covered by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An unloader comprising a frame, having a substantially horizontalportion and an inclined portion at the end of the horizontal portion, anendless transversely stiffened load-supporting conveyer belt extendingalong the horizontal portion and inclined portion, two separatedcontinuous belt contacting surfaces on the frame and spaced from eachother adjacent the outer edges of the belt for supporting the upperreach of the latter on the horizontal frame portion, means forsupporting the lower reach of the belt in close proximity to the upperreach, two separated continuous belt contacting surfaces on the inclinedportion adjacent the outer edges of the belt for supporting the latter,guide members for conducting the upper reach of the conveyer from thehorizontal portion to the inclined portion in a curved path, andwear-receiving members on the belt and in position to contact with theguides to protect the body of the belt against wearing contact with theguides.

2. An unloader comprising a frame having a Substantially horizontalportion and an inclined portion at the end of the horizontal portion, a

transversely stiffened endless load supporti-ng conveyer belt extendingalong the horizontal fportion and inclined portion, two separatedcontinuous belt contacting surfaces on the frame and spaced from eachother adjacent the outer edges of the belt for supporting the latter onthe horizontal frame portion and having a separate continuous contactingsurface between but spaced from the two separated contacting surfaces tosupport the belt, two separated continuous belt contacting surfacesonthe inclined portion ad jacent the outer edges of the belt and aseparate intermediate continuous contacting surface for supporting thebelt on the inclined portion and guide members for ceta-ducting theupper reach of the conveyer from the horizontal portion to the inclinedportion in a curved path.

WILLARD W. WENTZ. ALBERT D. HEYL.

